Wrath Read online

  “You there! STOP!” A fistful of fire landed against Kapono’s jaw. It did little to sway or slow him down. Not caring who had assaulted him, and why, Kapono wrapped fiery fingers around a warm throat and squeezed until there was nothing left.

  As he raged through town, anyone that got in his way was flicked off with fire and torched. Finding another one of his family’s killers, Kapono dragged the man from his hiding place and dug his talons into the man’s neck until his head rolled clean from his body. Kapono kept up the routine, shooting and roaring fire, not caring what destruction he caused in his path for vengeance. The only thing that mattered was the blood of those killers on his hands. He wanted to bathe in their blood, be covered in the carnage in hopes that it would mend that crack in his blackened heart.

  One more left. He found her trembling under a wagon, desperately trying to hide her scent with that of a horse. Kapono wasn’t fooled. He grabbed her by the throat and squeezed.

  “Please. Stop,” she begged.

  “Stop?! You killed my family! My whole world!” Kapono didn’t even recognize his own voice. It was as if the dragon whose blood that was threaded within Kapono was trying to turn Kapono into a dragon completely. Not wanting to hear any of her cries, Kapono twisted her neck. When she rested limply in his grasp, he torched her body until nothing was left but ash. As her ash withered away in the breeze, Kapono stood there, breathing heavily. They were all dead. Every single one of them. Still. His heart was bleeding. It wasn’t mending. The vengeance didn’t soothe him. Nothing was ever going to soothe him like how the touch of Ashbel’s warm body and soft voice soothed him. He would never get to experience that again however. She was dead.

  Kapono fell to his knees. Despite his killings, despite exacting his revenge, nothing had changed. His heart was still blackened. Still cracked from pain. Still void. What could he be in this world is he didn’t have the person he loved the most? Holding his temples, Kapono felt his body start to tremble again, another scream of despair ready to claw out from his gut. Burn it. Everything. Burn it to the ground. Kapono had no idea who’s gravelly voice rang out in his head, but his emotions provided no sense of protection against the voice. Simply, Kapono gave in. Enraged beyond comprehension, the flames surrounding his body sprang out, leaping to touch anything it could reach, setting it on fire.

  His body felt as it was being split in two, torn from the inside out. Muscles tore in his back, his legs became heavy and misshapen, slowly transforming. A rippling scream of agony escaped his mouth sounding both of a scream and a dragon’s roar. Violet wings ripped from his back, tearing his muscles apart. How could this be? He was changing into a dragon. It should have been impossible. Did rage consume him so much that his blood was allowing him the transform into the very creature he was born of? A creature that used to hunt the earth and rule?

  Burn it! Burn it all! The voice continued to rage within him and Kapono continued to listen. His roars were all flame filled, spewing fire onto the land as if watering it with destruction. The screams of terror were drowned out by the sound of licking flames, eating away at the land he called his home. For some reason he wanted to burn it down. For some reason he wanted to erase the entire Emberdom. Hell, he wanted to erase the entire world with him in it. Smoke thickened in the air around him, an orange haze covering the sky. Orange. Just like Ashbel. His little flame. Even the tears that splattered from his eyes and fell to the ground created fire. His whole being was consumed by fire. By destruction. Pain. Anger.

  A deep rumbling of the ground shook Kapono’s slowly changing body. Unwilling to fight, he fell limply as the ground seemed to open up. The destructive fire that he had spewed began to be swallowed up by the earth. Water began raining down on the land as winds blew out the flames left behind. A fiery figure with large wings ascended into the air. Kapono’s vision went blurry but he was coherent enough to gaze at the figure. Deep red eyes of fire met Kapono’s gaze. The force of magic made Kapono’s body tremble. Was that their god? Was he about to pass judgement on Kapono at the very moment? Had his actions truly called forth the magical beings that every being in Kosmos believed in? What sounded like a scream from the depths of hell shook the earth. Kapono covered his ears but it was no use. His eardrums ruptured and bled at the sound of the blaring alarm. The figure high in the sky, wielding fire just as Kapono just had, began to descend.

  “Kapono Thorn.” The voice of the figure was deep, yet it echoed all around them, almost as if his voice box existed within the skies itself.

  “Your wrath has created great destruction upon the land I have created.” The figure finally touched ground. Cloaked in darkness, Kapono could see nothing but hair as flames, and wings that were made of fire.

  “The land. You created?” Kapono could barely speak, his voice raw from the amount of fire he spewed as the roars and screams he’d dealt.

  “I am Vuur. The Phoenix. The fire elemental that has created Fireland. A land that you single handedly have destroyed.” Kapono was face to face with a god. A god that Fireland creatures worshipped, but this meeting was not for the blessed. It would be a penance.

  “No one is supreme ruled enough to cast destruction onto others. Look around you.” Still too weakened to stand, Kapono lifted his head. Blood drained from his face. The earth was dusted in ash, blood painted the cobblestones, bodies of women and children lay in the destructive path of vengeance his sought.

  “Innocent lives taken. The earth scorched and ruined. You have tried to play god, Kapono. Your wrath has blindly desecrated the peacefulness this land brought.”

  “I—My Ashbel—” Kapono couldn’t even speak. His body began to transform again, shrinking and snapping back into place, making him human once more.

  “Your anguish has freed a deadly demon from the pits of hell that will continue to cause strife amongst anyone who has survived this day. Your life here will not be taken, for elementals do not kill, but punishment will be rained down on your life for all eternity.” Holding his hands together, Vuur began to chant loudly, words that Kapono didn’t comprehend. The ground beneath Kapono’s body cracked some more, opening up slightly.

  “Wh—what are you doing to me?” Kapono asked. What was his punishment to be? Vuur continued to chant, ignoring Kapono’s question. Shadowy arms burst from the cracks beneath Kapono. They wrapped themselves all around Kapono, almost too hot for Kapono to handle as if they’d come from the very depths of hell. The sound of sinister laughter shook Kapono’s brain, the sound filling only his head. As the arms wrapped tighter around him, Kapono felt the force of dark energy sliding through the cells of his skin and sinking within his body. The feeling of anger and hatred rooted itself into his brain, like a permanent mark that would never be erased. The shadowy arms began to melt around him, becoming one with his entire being.

  Burn. We’ll burn it all! The cackling, sinister laugh rocked Kapono’s brain again.

  “No! No! Get out of me!” he screamed, realizing that the voice inside of his head had just become permanent. Vuur’s chanting slowly ebbed as Kapono’s body was taken over by the darkness of anger and hatred. His stomach began to sizzle.

  “Argh!” Kapono looked down at his stomach. It was as if an invisible iron branding tool was being pressed against his stomach. A shape of a serpent styled dragon took form against from the center of his stomach all the way to the sides, branding him. Kapono’s eyes widened. He knew enough of his history and his religious studies to comprehend what he had just become.

  “Kapono Thorn. For your destruction of Emberdom, and the assault on innocent lives you have been sentenced to an eternity of possession by the deadly sin of Wrath.” The words echoed in Kapono’s eardrums before his entire world was encased in darkness.

  “That’s everyone. Thirty bodies. The King. The Queen. All the servants. The attendants. The special guard forces. Even Lady Ashbel and her babe. Everyone. Dead.” The foyer of the castle was piled with bodies. The citizens of Emberdom had come together, working t
o collect the bodies of all those whose life was taken that disastrous night. In the path of destruction that Kapono left, ten innocents had lost their life, and in the castle, no one survived.

  “Can you believe it? It’s ghastly, but I can understand why Kapono lost his mind. He lost everything. All in one night. And to see the way the fetus of his babe was hung on the wall like some trophy? No wonder he was so damned emotional. Whoever did this is a monster!”

  “Are you crazy! It was Kapono who did this! Whether he went crazy or not! He started with his family and then all the workers and then he decided to pick people off one by one through Emberdom. Some King he would have been. Well I say good riddance!” The gossip was far and wide through the streets of Emberdom and in the castle as other members of dragon clans helped to gather the fallen.

  “Did you hear? Vuur himself made his presence known! The almighty fire elemental knows the devil when he sees one. That’s why he came to save us. The Elementals never interfere with our business unless it’s serious! He would have completely destroyed us and Vuur is the only reason why we’re still here. Imagine if no one could overtake Kapono? All the fire dragon clans would have gone extinct!”

  “Is it true what they say about Kapono’s punishment? That Vuur was chanting a demonic spell? Did he really cast a demon on Kapono for his sin?”

  “Well he better had! Look what he did to our precious land!”

  “Doesn’t make sense though! Kapono worshipped Ashbel! I’ve seen it with my own eyes! We visited the castle for a brunch. My wife wanted to mingle with the Queen and Lady Ashbel and even I saw how much Kapono was in love with Miss Ashbel. He wouldn’t just go crazy and kill her and his baby! More than likely, someone killed his family and it drove him insane! Hell, someone probably wanted to take over the kingdom and knew they couldn’t defeat Kapono. Instead, they caused the man insufferable pain and that would make him forever unable to rule the kingdom.”

  “That’s nonsense talk!”

  “Either way, we’ve got a ruined kingdom, no king and no queen. What do we do now?” The gossiping finally dimmed. The last question asked was the most important one. What were the citizens of Emberdom to do?

  “Mort, the undertaker will bring his wagon and we’ll carry the bodies to the burial ground. It’s time we bid goodnight to this wretched day and start anew,” Bern announced to everyone in the foyer of the castle. He was the head of the Dragon Crest clan who was helping everyone process the tragic event of the night. Being the elder, everyone listened to his instructions and followed his lead.

  “Sir, we’re going to need another wagon. I can go fetch mine to he—” the offer from another Dragon Crest clan member was silenced by the flare up of another licking fire.

  “Not again! More fire?! From where?!” Everyone turned to look at the fire that was blasting amongst the white sheets of dead bodies.

  “Wait a minute,” Bern breathed. One of the bodies was on fire. But how? He had checked all the bodies himself, and they were all gone.

  “Someone put out the fire!” a voice called.

  “No!” Bern shouted out. Even though the fire was burning wildly, it was not igniting anything it touched. Almost like the fire was special. Every member of a fire dragon clan had unique color of their fires and their fires all had different capabilities. The orange blaze of the fire before them was one that Bern had never seen. Orange flames. What clan carried bearers of orange flames?

  “Look! The fire’s dying!” Bern rushed over to the body as the flames began to die out. He yanked the sheet off the body, surprised that even the sheet was not torched to ashes. The flames finally licked out.

  “Oh, my word. Any herbalists or medical staff here?!” Bern shouted. One of the females rushed over.

  “I am the healer of my clan,” she explained. Bern pointed to the body that had just been engulfed in flames. The woman clutched her chest.

  Ashbel Crimson’s hair was still burning the orange flame that had taken over her body just a moment again. Her eyes snapped opened as her back arched deeply. Her mouth opened as she pulled in a deep breath, gasping as if she’d just been resuscitated. Her eyes were burning orange just as her hair was. But slowly, the fire began to wither away. She turned her head and looked at Bern softly before her eyes closed again.

  “Lady Ashbel!” The healer screamed.

  “Be calm! She’s still alive!” Bern insisted. He noticed that Ashbel’s skin was radiant, glowing as if she hadn’t been the victim of a salacious crime.

  “How is this possible?! And look at the glow of her skin! Almost like she’s been wiped down clean and sparkled with moisturizer dripped straight from the sun! And she was dead! I know it! Her entire body mutilated! How can this be?!” Bern looked at Ashbel’s bright orange hair. He knew she was of the Red Breath clan, and he also knew she was the only member of that clan with bright orange hair. Suddenly, it made sense.

  “Clearly it’s possible. We’re seeing it with both our eyes,” Bern said.

  “But how?!”

  “Apparently Lady Ashbel is not just of dragon blood. She’s a Phoenix.”

  Pain stabbed at her stomach, making tears roll down at cheeks as she realized her baby was beyond saving. The wound in her chest was slowly depleting her life, leaving her defenseless as her attacker cut and stabbed at her stomach. Her baby. Her sweet young king that was growing within her.

  “No. Kapono.” Ashbel jumped up, screaming as she clutched her head.

  “Lady Ashbel! Please calm down!” Soft hands grabbed at Ashbel’s shoulders. Ashbel was breathing heavily as she looked around. She was in a room she didn’t recognize, the sun shining brightly through the archway of the window.

  “Where am I?! And where is Prince Kapono!” Ashbel tried to fight out of the woman’s hold.

  “Lady Ashbel, please. Calm down.” The woman was fighting hard to keep Ashbel in bed. Knowing a panic wouldn’t get her anywhere, Ashbel took a deep breath. She clutched at the arms of the warm woman sitting next to her who seemed to be caring for her.

  “Where am I?” Ashbel asked.

  “You’re in the mansion of Mage Bourbon,” she said. “And my name is Bea. I’m one of his attendants. He told me to keep good care of you.” Ashbel shook her head. She’d never heard of anyone named Mage, but at the moment in time she didn’t care to ask any other question about him.

  “Where is Kapono?” Ashbel asked breathlessly, already feeling tired and weak.

  “Um, maybe you should lay down Lady Ashbel. You’re still recovering.” Ashbel actually listened. She was indeed tired. Naturally as she laid down, she went to lay her hand over her round belly. Her hand fell limply against her flat stomach. Ashbel gasped and pushed the sheets away. Her stomach wasn’t round. Ashbel brought tense eyes to Bea.

  “Miss Bea, wh—when I went to sleep, I was pregnant. and now I wake up and—what is going on here?” Ashbel’s voice was shaking.

  “There was an attack,” Bea whispered. Ashbel shut her eyes. Images flashed behind her closed lids. Pain. Blood. Knives. Anger. Sadness. Ashbel began to breathe heavily again. She touched her chest where she knew her heart had been pierced, where a large gaping hole should have been. When she looked down at her bare stomach, she saw the slowly faded wound marks. There was a long curved mark across her abdomen. The pain she had felt in the dream she thought she was having was real. It was all real.

  “Lady Ashbel.” Ashbel clutched onto Bea, tears already rolling down her face.

  “My baby,” she cried.

  “Please, lay down.” She pushed Ashbel to lay down as Ashbel cried hysterically, clutched her barren stomach. Bea rushed to the warm bucket of water she already had prepared and drenched a rag in it. She brought it over to Ashbel and folded it against her forehead.

  “It will be aright child,” Bea soothed her.

  “Where is my husband?” Ashbel wept. She needed Kapono. Desperately. Only his warmth could ease her in this devasting moment.

  “The attack was wides
pread Ashbel. Not just people in the castle, but there were several deaths out in the street too.” Ashbel just shook her head. She didn’t care.

  “Just bring me my plum dragon. My king,” Ashbel wept. “Please. Please.” Bea only looked at her with sorrow filled eyes. The door to the bedroom opened.

  “Thank goodness,” Bea exhaled as Ashbel’s parents hurried into the room. Bea stood from the bed and bowed at them. With their presence, she took her leave from the bedroom. It was their place to tell Ashbel the heartbreaking news.

  “Ashbel!” Marigold Crimson was quick to sit on the bed next to her daughter and sat her up just so she could hold Ashbel.

  “Mother.” Ashbel clutched onto her mother. The phantom knife strikes she had felt continued to pang through her stomach and her chest, reminding Ashbel of the horror she had experienced.

  “I died. Didn’t I?” Ashbel whispered. She had remembered the loss of blood, the magic draining from her body, the sleep that had overcome her.

  “Yes. You did.” Ashbel pushed away and looked at both of her parents.

  “Everyone in the castle that night lost their life,” Ashton Crimson spoke up. Her elderly father who still had gruesome dragon power, towered over his wife and daughter.

  “Wha—” Ashbel clutched her chest. “Kapono!”

  “Everyone except you and Kapono my dear,” Ashton explained further. “Your life was indeed taken, but a miracle has blessed our family.”